Jul 8, 2023 05:24 PM
Instead of the "horseshoe theory" metaphor I would use a circle. Decolonality is a great example of how if you go far enough left (i.e., unchecked outrage about colonial oppression of the past) you eventually enter the turf of far-right nationalism (indigenous style). Since even social-justice champions of the working class (Marxist states) like the USSR and China actually became nationalist oriented themselves, arguably the evolution of any unbridled left movement will do (and vice-versa?) to illustrate that collectivism and fascism are just flip sides of the same coin. Both are intellectually descended from the French Revolution (as far their contemporary formulations and development go, anyway).
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https://www.city-journal.org/article/an-...e-research
EXCERPTS: An online war, led by a British national named Oliver D. Smith, has targeted the field of intelligence research. His campaign, abetted by a user-controlled website’s negligent policies, has led to devastating professional consequences for a number of academics working in this area. Most people are accustomed to online disinformation and cancel culture, but Smith is unique for combining both weapons against his perceived enemies.
The French philosopher Jean-Pierre Faye has argued that the extremes of the political right and left are more similar to one another than either is to the center. If anyone epitomizes this “horseshoe theory” concept, it is Smith, who has moved in his political allegiances from the far-right to the far-left—from one fanaticism to another. His recent attacks on the reputations of academics employ the same methods that he previously used against opponents of his past white supremacist beliefs.
When Oliver Smith first appeared on the Internet during the 2000s, he was an active member of white-supremacist and neo-Nazi online communities. [...] By 2012, Smith had mostly lost interest in contributing to white-supremacist forums. He had found another place to promote the same ideology: Metapedia, a pro-fascism wiki site. [...] Smith’s and Metapedia’s far-right ideologies may have seemed a natural fit for one another, but trouble was afoot. After a feud with a fellow Metapedia administrator, Smith announced that he was quitting the site...
[...] As per his request, Smith’s account at Metapedia was then permanently blocked from editing. After this, he no longer argued for any of the neo-Nazi positions, such as white nationalism or Holocaust denial, that he had previously supported. In light of what came later, though, his announcement that race was a topic he was “no longer wasting time with” proved ironic.
Over the next few years, Smith completed his journey from one end of the ideological continuum to the other. With his Metapedia account now blocked, Smith shifted his focus to creating attack pages at RationalWiki. From 2016 onward, these attacks had a new target: people involved in the field of intelligence research, especially (though not exclusively) if their research included publications about differences between race or sex averages.
In 2019, Smith posted a list of RationalWiki articles that he took credit for creating. These include entries on some of the most prominent figures and groups in the field of intelligence research, such as [...] This is nowhere near a complete list of his articles, as Smith claims to have created “hundreds of articles” at RationalWiki. Other articles created by accounts that RationalWiki admins have identified as Smith aliases include the articles about Claire Lehmann, Quillette, Peter Frost, Bo Winegard, and Jonathan Anomaly.
Ill-founded hit jobs with content far removed from reputable sources characterize this output. [...] Around the beginning of 2016, Smith joined the forum of a website called OpenPsych, an open-access psychology and social-science research publication. After a lengthy argument with other members, he eventually was banned from the forum, rejoined it under a different name, and was banned again and had all of his posts deleted. Within 24 hours after his second ban, Smith retaliated by creating RationalWiki articles attacking OpenPsych contributors...
[...] One of the most prominent targets of Smith’s RationalWiki campaign was the young academic Noah Carl ... I can verify that this RationalWiki article was indeed sent to Carl’s employer shortly before the protests over his hiring got underway. ... Carl’s story did not have a happy ending. The open letter ultimately received signatures from 586 academics, along with 874 students, though most of these academics worked in unrelated fields such as history, English literature and geography. Quillette subsequently published a counter-petition in Carl’s defense signed by 606 academics. Unlike the earlier petition, this one included signatures from intellectual heavyweights...
[...] A similar case occurred later that year. The evolutionary psychologist Bo Winegard ... In October 2019, when Smith’s article about Winegard had existed for about three months, Winegard presented a lecture about the evolutionary basis of human genetic variation for an evolutionary-biology group at the University of Alabama. Though the lecture itself went without incident, Winegard’s troubles began the following day...
[...] By the late 2010s, Smith had become notorious among members of the websites where he was a regular participant, including RationalWiki, Encyclopedia Dramatica and Kiwi Farms... [and on and on an account of his many victims and exploits] (MORE -details)
- - - - - - - - - - -
https://www.city-journal.org/article/an-...e-research
EXCERPTS: An online war, led by a British national named Oliver D. Smith, has targeted the field of intelligence research. His campaign, abetted by a user-controlled website’s negligent policies, has led to devastating professional consequences for a number of academics working in this area. Most people are accustomed to online disinformation and cancel culture, but Smith is unique for combining both weapons against his perceived enemies.
The French philosopher Jean-Pierre Faye has argued that the extremes of the political right and left are more similar to one another than either is to the center. If anyone epitomizes this “horseshoe theory” concept, it is Smith, who has moved in his political allegiances from the far-right to the far-left—from one fanaticism to another. His recent attacks on the reputations of academics employ the same methods that he previously used against opponents of his past white supremacist beliefs.
When Oliver Smith first appeared on the Internet during the 2000s, he was an active member of white-supremacist and neo-Nazi online communities. [...] By 2012, Smith had mostly lost interest in contributing to white-supremacist forums. He had found another place to promote the same ideology: Metapedia, a pro-fascism wiki site. [...] Smith’s and Metapedia’s far-right ideologies may have seemed a natural fit for one another, but trouble was afoot. After a feud with a fellow Metapedia administrator, Smith announced that he was quitting the site...
[...] As per his request, Smith’s account at Metapedia was then permanently blocked from editing. After this, he no longer argued for any of the neo-Nazi positions, such as white nationalism or Holocaust denial, that he had previously supported. In light of what came later, though, his announcement that race was a topic he was “no longer wasting time with” proved ironic.
Over the next few years, Smith completed his journey from one end of the ideological continuum to the other. With his Metapedia account now blocked, Smith shifted his focus to creating attack pages at RationalWiki. From 2016 onward, these attacks had a new target: people involved in the field of intelligence research, especially (though not exclusively) if their research included publications about differences between race or sex averages.
In 2019, Smith posted a list of RationalWiki articles that he took credit for creating. These include entries on some of the most prominent figures and groups in the field of intelligence research, such as [...] This is nowhere near a complete list of his articles, as Smith claims to have created “hundreds of articles” at RationalWiki. Other articles created by accounts that RationalWiki admins have identified as Smith aliases include the articles about Claire Lehmann, Quillette, Peter Frost, Bo Winegard, and Jonathan Anomaly.
Ill-founded hit jobs with content far removed from reputable sources characterize this output. [...] Around the beginning of 2016, Smith joined the forum of a website called OpenPsych, an open-access psychology and social-science research publication. After a lengthy argument with other members, he eventually was banned from the forum, rejoined it under a different name, and was banned again and had all of his posts deleted. Within 24 hours after his second ban, Smith retaliated by creating RationalWiki articles attacking OpenPsych contributors...
[...] One of the most prominent targets of Smith’s RationalWiki campaign was the young academic Noah Carl ... I can verify that this RationalWiki article was indeed sent to Carl’s employer shortly before the protests over his hiring got underway. ... Carl’s story did not have a happy ending. The open letter ultimately received signatures from 586 academics, along with 874 students, though most of these academics worked in unrelated fields such as history, English literature and geography. Quillette subsequently published a counter-petition in Carl’s defense signed by 606 academics. Unlike the earlier petition, this one included signatures from intellectual heavyweights...
[...] A similar case occurred later that year. The evolutionary psychologist Bo Winegard ... In October 2019, when Smith’s article about Winegard had existed for about three months, Winegard presented a lecture about the evolutionary basis of human genetic variation for an evolutionary-biology group at the University of Alabama. Though the lecture itself went without incident, Winegard’s troubles began the following day...
[...] By the late 2010s, Smith had become notorious among members of the websites where he was a regular participant, including RationalWiki, Encyclopedia Dramatica and Kiwi Farms... [and on and on an account of his many victims and exploits] (MORE -details)